Hi,

I'm new here, just found this site through google as I'm having trouble getting my mum's Multipla to start.

It failed to start the other day and was jump started by the recovery man. It failed to start again today so I tested the battery output under load and it is down to under 10 volts. So, new battery I thought. Bought one, put it in. Car will still not start.

Anyway, I looked up how to test the resistance of the coil pack outputs, and both pairs read 4900 ohms, and I've sparked each plug against the bodywork, proving there is in fact a spark being produced.

I've also changed the spark plugs, but actually there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the old ones anyway.

The only thing I can think of now is possibly the fuel pump, but how would I test that? And does anyone have any suggestions of what else it could be?

Iain

OK, doesn't sound like an immobiliser issue as you've got sparks.
When you changed the plugs the old ones should have been wet and smelt of petrol, I've got the diesel so my knowledge of petrol versions isn't great but if the pump was faulty, I would have expected an error assuming the ECU would have a low fuel pressure sensor.
You could always undo a fuel pipe and redirect into an empty bottle to check the fuel pump, etc.
Check the fuel filter, making sure you've got petrol in there and not water, unlikely but you need to eliminate the fuel filter anyway.
Post up the results and we'll try to help.
P.S. Check the fuses and make sure the battery earths are solid, if necessary run a temporary earth strap as poor earthing is a common issue on older Multi's

Thanks for the advice mate.

I actually called the local mechanic round in the end to plug in diagnostics, and it turned out to be the crankshaft sensor. We actually checked the fuel pipes to see if anything would come out of them when we tried to start it, but nothing; the ECU wouldn't send fuel as it knew the crankshaft sensor was knackered.

Got the part from a local supplier, fitted it, cleared the fault codes and hey presto. Started straight away. Saved a lot of time using diagnostics, could have ended up changing a perfectly good fuel pump just to have it still not start (at £225 each).

He did also change the smaller 2 relays located next to the battery incase they were what was causing it.